Romans
The Romans invaded Britain
for 2 reasons: a) British Celts were aiding the Celts of Gaul against Rome; b) Britain
had a mild climate (due to the Gulf Stream)
and was a very productive land. Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55
B.C., but he did not conquer the country, he tried again a year later and he
succeeded but the conquest was merely nominal. The Romans really conquered Britain in the
year 43-47 A.D. with Emperor Claudius. In the Roman Britain there were 3 kinds
of towns: "Coloniae" (peopled by Romans), "Municipia" (peopled by British people with the roman
citizenship) and "Civitates" (old Celtic capitals,
administered by the Romans). The Romans tried to conquer Caledonia (modern Scotland) but
they did not succeed. Emperor Hadrian finally ordered to build a wall to
separate the two countries (today's England
and Scotland) to keep out
the raiders from Caledonia. Long Stretches of
this wall (known as "the Hadrian's wall) still
exist. Rome lost the control of Britain and then in 409 Emperor Honorius
withdrew his soldiers to defend Rome
against barbarian raiders.
Anglo-Saxons
When the Romans left the Britain,
several invaders reached the country: The Angles, the Saxons and the jutes. The
Anglo-Saxon culture is evident today in the names of days of the week and in
place names. The major gods for the Anglo-Saxons were Tiw,
Woden, and Thunor, whose
names are commemorated in the names of three days of the week: Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday. The Anglo Saxons established 7 kingdoms, the Heptarchy: East Anglia, Essex,
Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex.
The most powerful were Northumbria,
Mercia and Wessex.
In this period the Christianization of the country took place. At the end of
the 6th century pope Gregory the 1st (known as "the
Great") sent Augustine, a monk, to bring the Christianity to England, the
Roman Church developed a parish system and planted churches all over the
country. Afterwards new enemies arrived from overseas: The Vikings, who came
from Norway and Denmark.
The end of Anglo-Saxon England
When Alfred he Great come to the throne, the Vikings had already occupied Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. He won back the
territories by capturing the town of London. Alfred enacted the first English laws,
encouraged education and scholarship and built a fleet, he translated various
Latin works into Anglo-Saxon. Afterwards the Danish Vikings started raiding
again. Ethelred, the new Anglo-Saxon king, decided to pay the Vikings a sum to
go away, the tax levied for this purpose was known as "Danegeld". When Ethelred
died, Canute, the leader of the Vikings controlled much of England. He
became king since the royal council, the Witan, feared disorder. The Witan in
1042 elected Edward (one of the Ethelred's sons)
known as the confessor. He built the Westminster Abbey. The last Anglo-Saxon
king was Harold the 2nd. The Normans,
descended from the Vikings, invaded Britain and Anglo-Saxon resistance
to the invaders was suppressed. It was
the end of the Anglo-Saxon England.
